unrestrained pillage; private property was plundered and wantonly destroyed; unarmed and unoffending individuals grossly abused; females violated; and, in one instance, an aged sick man murdered in the arms of his wife, who, at the same time, was dangerously wounded. A collection of well-attested facts, made by a committee of Congress respecting the outrages at Hampton, stand on their journals as lasting monuments of disgrace to the British nation.

Hampton has been the birth-place of several distinguished naval officers. Among them were the two Barrons,* of the Virginia navy, who performed several gallant exploits in the revolution. The grandfather of Com. Lewis Warrington, who, in 1814, while in command of the Peacock, captured the Epervier, was pastor of the old Episcopal church in this town. Major Finn, of the army, was from this place. Capt. Meredith and Capt. William Cunningham, of the Virginia navy in the revolution, were also born at Hampton. The first was a remarkably bold and enterprising officer, and on one moonlight night ventured to sail out to sea in a small vessel, passing through a British fleet anchored in Hampton Roads. The following notice of the latter is abridged from the U. S. Military and Naval Magazine:

At the beginning of the war of the revolution, Capt. Cunningham enlisted in one of the minute companies, and continued in that service until Virginia armed a few fastsailing pilot-boat schooners. Thus was the navy of that state commenced. It, however, varied materially; sometimes amounting to as many as 50 vessels, and occasionally to only one. Among them was the schooner Liberty, which was never captured, although several times sunk in the rivers to conceal her from the enemy. Capt. Cunningham embarked and remained in the Liberty, as her first lieutenant, until the war assumed a more regular form. Capt. Cunningham purchased a small schooner, and engaged in traffic to the West Indies. Sea-officers were encouraged to engage in commerce as the only means of procuring the munitions of war.

On these occasions, he encountered great risk from the enemy's fleets. Once, in the month of June, he suddenly came upon an English frigate, off Cape Henry, in a dense fog. The English commander ordered him to strike his colors, and haul down his light sails, or he would sink him. By a judicious and skilful stratagem, he made the enemy believe that he intended to surrender. He, therefore, suspended his threatened firing. At the moment they discovered that Cunningham intended to escape, the jib-boom of the frigate caught in the topping-lift of the schooner's main-boom. Capt. C. sprang up to the stern, with a knife, to free his vessel. While in the act of cutting the rope, a British marine shot him through the arm. Nothing daunted, he deliberately effected his object, and amid a shower of grape, his vessel shot away from the frigate, and was in a few moments out of sight.

Some time after, Capt. Cunningham joined the army on the south side of James River, and had the misfortune, while on a foraging expedition, to be taken by the enemy and carried into Portsmouth. He had then been recently married.

One day he said to an uncle of his, (also a prisoner,) that he would see his wife the next evening, or perish in the attempt. "My dear Will, are you mad?" was the reply The prison in which he was confined was a large sugar-house, at the extreme south end of the town, enclosed by a strong stockade fence. At sunset every evening, the guard, composed of 40 or 50 men, were relieved by fresh troops, and on their arrival, the two guards, with their officers, were paraded in front of the prison, on each side of the path. way to the gate. At this hour, the ceremony observed on the occasion was in progress; the relieved guard had stacked their arms, and were looking up their baggage; the fresh guard were relieving sentinels, and, in a degree, at their ease. This was the time selected by Capt. C. The sentinel had just begun to pace his sacred ground, and awful, indeed, was the moment. Capt. C. was justly a great favorite with the prisoners, who all, in silent terror, expected to see their beloved companion pinned to the earth by many bayenets, for expostulation had been exhausted. "My wife, or death!" was his watchword. The sentinel's motions had been sagaciously calculated upon, and as he turned from

• One of these was the father of the present Com. James Barron, of the U. S. Navy.

the prison, Capt. C. darted out, and butted him over at his full length, and ran past him through the gate. It was now nearly dark. All was uproar and confusion. Cunningham soon reached a marsh near the house, and was nowhere to be found. Volley after volley was fired after him, and some of the balls whistled over his head. Ere long he arrived at the southern branch of Elizabeth River, which he swam over a little below the navy-yard at Gosport, and finally reached the place whither his wife had fled.

Lieut. Church, who had served as Capt. C.'s first, was determined that his commander should not alone encounter the danger of an escape. He, therefore, followed him; and strange as it may appear, he was never heard of, or accounted for.

Old Point Comfort, on which stands fortress Monroe, is 21⁄2 miles from Hampton, and about 12 in a direct line from Norfolk. It is a promontory, exactly on lat. 370, and with the opposing point, Willoughby, forms the mouth of James River.

The name was given to it in 1607 by the first colonists of Virginia, who, on their exploratory voyage up the James, previous to landing at Jamestown, called it Point Comfort "on account of the good channel and safe anchorage it afforded." The prefix of "Old," was afterwards given to distinguish it from "New Point Comfort."

A fort was built on the Point a few years after the first settlement of the country. The following act for its erection was passed in March, 1629-30. "Matter of ffortifications was againe taken into consideration, and Capt. Samuel Mathewes was content to undertake the raysing of a ffort at Poynt Comfort; whereupon, Capt. Robert Ffelgate, Capt. Thomas Purfury, Capt. Thomas Graies, Capt. John Uty, Capt. Tho. Willoby, Mr. Tho. Heyrick, and Leu't. Wm. Perry, by full consent of the whole Assembly, were chosen to view the place, conclude what manner of fforte shall bee erected, and to compounde and agree with the said Capt. Mathewes for the building, raysing, and finishing the same," &c.

Count de Grasse, the admiral of the French fleet, threw up some fortifications on old Point Comfort a short time previous to the surrender at York.

The salutary experience, dearly bought in the lessons of the late war, when these waters were the resort of British fleets, has doubtless had much influence in prompting the erection of the fortresses of Monroe and Calhoun. The first is one of the largest single fortifications in the world, and is generally garrisoned by a regiment of U. S. troops. The channel leading in from the Capes of Virginia to Hampton Roads, is at Old Point Comfort reduced to a very narrow line. The shoal water, which under the action of the sea, and reacted upon by the bar, is kept up in an unremitting ripple, has given the name of Rip Raps to this place. When the bar is passed, Hampton Roads affords one of the finest anchorages, in which navies could ride in safety. Fort Calhoun, or the castle of the Rip Raps, is directly opposite fort Monroe, at the distance of 1900 yards. The two forts are so constructed as to present immense batteries of cannon at an approaching hostile ship; and the probabilities are, that long before she had completed the bendings of the channel, she would be a wreck, or a conflagration from the hot shot thrown into her. The Rip Raps structure is a monument of the genius of the engineers by whom it was planned. It is formed upon an island, made from the sea by casting in rocks in a depth of 20 feet of water, until, by gradual accumulation, it emerged above the tides. The present aspect of the place is rough and savage; the music of the surrounding elements of air and sea, is in keeping with the dreariness and desolation of the spot.

The beach at Old Point, affords excellent bathing-ground; this, with a fine hotel, and other attractions, make the place much resorted to in the summer months. The officers' quarters occupy several neat buildings within the area of the fort, where there is a fine level parade-ground, ornamented by clumps of live-oak, which is the most northern point in the Union in which that tree is found.

GEORGE WYTHE, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in this county in 1726. "His education was principally directed by his mother. The death of both his parents before he became of age, and the uncontrolled possession of a large fortune, led him for some time into a course of amusement and dissipation. At the age of thirty, however, his conduct underwent an

entire change. He applied himself vigorously to the study of the law; and soon after his admission to the bar, his learning, industry, and eloquence, made him eminent. For several years previous to the revolution, he was conspicuous in the House of Burgesses ; and in the commencement of the opposition to England, evinced an ardent attachment to liberty. In 1764, he drew up a remonstrance to the House of Commons, in a tone of independence too decided for that period, and which was greatly modified by the Assembly before assenting to it. In 1775, he was appointed a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In the following year he was appointed, in connection with Mr. Jefferson and others, to revise the laws of Virginia-a duty which was performed with great ability. In 1777, he was appointed Speaker of the House of Delegates, and during the same year judge of the high court of chancery. On a new organization of the court of equity, in the subsequent year, he was appointed sole chancellora station which he filled for more than twenty years. In 1787, he was a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution, and during the debates acted, for the most part, as chairman. He was a strenuous advocate of the instrument adopted. He subsequently presided twice, successively, in the college of electors in Virginia. His death occurred on the 8th of June, 1806, in the 81st year of his age. It was supposed that he was poisoned; but the person suspected was acquitted by a jury. In learning, industry, and judgment, Chancellor Wythe had few superiors. His integrity was never stained, even by a suspicion; and from the moment of his abandonment of the follies of his youth, his reputation was unspotted. The kindness and benevolence of his heart were commensurate with the strength and attainments of his mind."

ESSEX.

Essex was formed in 1692, from a part of (old) Rappahannock county. It lies on the s. side of the Rappahannock, about 30 miles NE. of Richmond. Its length is 28 miles; mean breadth 10 miles. In the western part it is slightly hilly, and its soil, except on the margin of the streams, generally sandy. The county, however, produces large crops of corn, considerable wheat and oats, and some cotton and tobacco. Pop. in 1840, whites 3,955, slaves 6,756, free colored 598; total, 11,309.

Tappahannoc, port of entry and seat of justice for the county, lies on the Rappahannock, 50 miles from its mouth in Chesapeake Bay, and contains about 30 dwellings. It has a good harbor, and all the shipping belonging to the towns on the river is entered at the custom-house in this place; tonnage in 1840, 4,591. Loretto is a small village one mile from the Rappahannock, in the NE. part of the county.